A long-awaited Pentagon review has determined that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth violated official protocols by disclosing classified information in a private Signal group, according to a source familiar with the report.
Details of the Incident
The chat group in dispute included details about a scheduled airstrike in Yemen targeting Houthi militants. This discussion was revealed after a reporter for the Atlantic was added as a participant.
Other officials in the chat allegedly included Senator JD Vance, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and former security advisor Mike Waltz. The investigation did not examine the actions of Hegseth, as the other participants do not work at the Department of Defense.
Signal is a publicly available messaging app that was not authorized for handling sensitive material.
Serious Risk to Forces
The inspector general's report found that the intelligence circulated by Hegseth was secret and posed a risk to the lives of US troops if it had been obtained by a foreign enemy force.
Notably, the report also noted that Hegseth possessed the authority to downgrade the material he shared, though it was unclear whether he actually did so.
Hegseth's Reaction
The informed individual said that Hegseth refused to be interviewed by the inspector general. Instead, he submitted a brief written statement.
In his statement, Hegseth claimed he only disclosed information that would not have risked lives or compromised the mission. He added that he had the right to downgrade information and considered the investigation to be politically motivated.
Future Actions
The completed report has been provided to Congress. An unclassified version is expected to be made public in the coming days.
